Butler Area School District residents will not see a tax increase next year.

The board passed its budget for the upcoming school year at a Thursday morning, June 4, special meeting, with expenditures and revenue of $120,714,198 — roughly a 2.53% increase from the current year.

“It comes off as easy when there’s a balanced budget, but getting to a budget balanced is not an easy process,” said Superintendent Brian White.

He said the board had been working between district departments and principals since December to work toward a balanced budget without knowing how much funding it will get from the state.

“All the inflationary pressures that hit a home, hit the school district as well. Utilities are up, our commodities are up, labor costs are up, White said.

“It takes a lot of time to strategically discuss how can we do things differently to accomplish our goals and try not to impact the taxes in the community.”

In the budget, more than 49% of the district’s revenue, or about $59.27 million, would come from local sources. More than 48%, or about $58.3 million, will come from the state, and about 2.6% will come from federal sources.

White previously said the district built the budget assuming Gov. Josh Shapiro would not get all the education funding he proposed. Shapiro’s administration has proposed over $8.3 billion in total basic education funding for 2026-27, up by around $50 million from what last year’s budget provided.

The state’s deadline to pass a budget is June 30, though last year’s budget was over four months late due to a divided legislature failing to come to an agreement.

The board also approved its real estate millage in line with no tax increase and approved new novels for high school students.

The board said parents were given the opportunity to approve novels, and 91% or more voted to approve every proposed novel.

Any novels with “questionable content” were limited to the AP courses and are able to be opted out of by parents, the board said. The list of the 11 approved novels can be found on the district’s website.

Board members Phil Heasley, Terry Stivason and Cecilia Tomko were absent from the meeting. Those in attendance approved all actions unanimously.